THE TRIUMPH OF LIFE 



of culture meant to eat each other. One day the 

 moral command was heard "Thou shalt not 

 kill" — not kill men. One day it was announced 

 from a green hill that all men are brothers; 

 that this little mass of men in conflict with the 

 world should co-operate: that mankind has one 

 body and one soul. In opposition to this teach- 

 ing there have been an endless line of reversions 

 in our cultural life. But since this teaching has 

 been announced it has become the kernel of our 

 culture, and we are concerned with the recogni- 

 tion of these relapses, which lose their impor- 

 tance because they are recognized as such. It 

 does not matter how I name this principle, 

 whether humanity or love or the social question 

 or Christianity. We all know it in its true form 

 whether with or without a name. We will name 

 it the principle of co-operative activity. All 

 men act, according to their idea, co-operatively. 

 They struggle in common for their existence on 

 earth, and for their advance in this existence. 

 Among themselves they do not struggle, but 

 stand upon a basis of reciprocal help. It is 

 clear that this principle does not itself end the 

 great struggle, but it changes the form of it. 

 In place of a struggle of all against all appears 

 a struggle of great groups with oth^^i-s. With- 

 in the group itself, however, a harmony has 

 been attained. In the place of struggle some 

 thing positively new has stepped in : reciprocal 

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